The present disclosure relates generally to vehicle diagnostic knowledge delivery and in particular, to a method of verifying the content of vehicle repair case records and delivering them to vehicle technicians for assistance in vehicle diagnostics and repair.
The conventional diagnosis and repair process for most vehicles is based on the experience of individual service technicians. The knowledge of a service technician may be supplemented with paper-based information, such as service manuals, describing the structure and operation of the vehicle. Each automotive repair shop may have one or more expert service technicians that assist the less skilled or less experienced service technicians in performing diagnosis and repair procedures. Typically, the scope of diagnosis and repair performed by a single automotive repair shop is limited. Therefore, the amount of knowledge acquired by the expert technicians located at each automotive repair shop may be limited to the specific repairs that have been performed at the automotive repair shop in the past. This may affect the ability of a particular automotive repair shop to diagnose and repair a vehicle in an expeditious manner if they have not previously performed the particular diagnosis and repair.
Many automotive repair shops, including car dealerships and independent repair shops, have some form of access to a central computer for repair advice and assistance. These systems typically include information that is created by engineers who have designed and manufactured the vehicle (e.g., service manuals). These systems may be useful in diagnosing and repairing a vehicle but may contain so much information that in some cases it may become cumbersome for the service technician to utilize them for simple repairs. In addition, the information may not be updated based on field experience with both the diagnosis and repair procedures.
In one survey, service technicians were asked to rank sources of service information in terms of usefulness during the diagnostic and repair process. The result was the following list, in rank order beginning with the most useful:                1. Technician's own experience;        2. Experience of other technicians;        3. Service Manuals, Bulletins;        4. Preliminary Bulletins;        5. Technical Assistance Center (TAC) hot line (many respondents complained that TAC calls take too much time); and        6. Service Manager/ Shop Foreman.Currently, these various information sources are not integrated. In addition, these information sources are not always accessible to service technicians in the time frame or format required.        